


Tricked

by Burgie



Series: Justin is Darko AU [1]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2018-12-12 18:56:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11743110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: A secret is revealed when Justin is imprisoned. Zelda and Phantom belong to ZDusk and Shadow belongs to Shadowlord13.





	1. Chapter 1

"Justin Moorland, I'm placing you under arrest!" Fripp declared. To the surprise of everyone, Justin began to laugh.

"Oh, bravo, Fripp, I thought that I'd fooled everyone. But I guess that there's no fooling you, is there?" said Justin, his voice suddenly different. Before everyone's eyes, Justin began to change. His body became thinner, but just as trim. His face changed, his cheekbones becoming sharper. His hair shortened and came to a peak at the top of his head, now a dark shade of red rather than black. And his eyes... once brown, they were now as blue as the sky outside of the Stone Circle.

"W-what?" Zelda stammered, anger giving way to confusion. Justin- no, Darko, turned and grinned at her.

"You silly girl," said Darko, chuckling. "Did you really think that we'd let your boyfriend go, just like that?"

"No, you can't... this can't be real," said Zelda, tears in her eyes. "Please, you have to tell me that this is a trick or a joke or, or, something!"

"Oh, but it is a trick," said Darko. "The trick was that you all thought that I was Justin. I managed to fool everyone, even the one who knew him best."

"It'd been so long, I just thought that he was... confused," said Zelda quietly. Darko snorted.

"Of course not, you silly girl," said Darko. "Justin is confused, yes, but even he would have remembered that he had a horse."

"He remembered the first time," said Zelda, feeling numb. "But... but if you're here, then where's Justin?"

"Oh, he is safe," said Darko. "But you won't be able to find him as easily as last time."

"But... but we..." Zelda trailed off, shuddering. "So this whole time, I've been in love with you?"

"Yes," said Darko. "Oh, don't worry, I have many lovers. Many have fallen for my charms."

"You tricked me!" Zelda shouted, wishing that she had Alex's powers, or Lisa's, or any powers. Even just a very large stick that she could use to beat the tar out of Darko for what he'd done to her.

"Sorry," said Darko with a shrug and a smirk. "All's fair in love and war, as the saying goes."

"Just- ugh!" Zelda growled, and turned Phantom around so that she could ride away from the Stone Circle before she did something that she'd regret.

Zelda sat numbly at the winery hours later, a glass of wine in front of her. She'd heard that alcohol was supposed to solve problems or at least numb them, but the only thing that it had done was leave a foul taste in Zelda's mouth (she wouldn't tell the Baroness that, though). She'd loved him, she'd given him everything, and it wasn't even Justin. She'd only loved him because he'd looked like Justin. Darko had fooled everyone. But what he'd done to her had been so much worse.

Zelda put her head in her hands and sobbed, feeling sickened and ashamed that she'd been fooled so easily. Nobody else would be fooled by someone disguising themselves as their lover. 

"You know that's not true," said Phantom, looking at her from across the little picnic table that Zelda sat at.

"Do I?" asked Zelda. "I guess it was easy enough to trick me. I was so desperate to have him back that I didn't question it. How easy it was."

"According to Storm, it wasn't easy," said Phantom. "He had to unlock his hidden powers in order to rescue Justin, and you."

"You would've noticed," said Zelda. Phantom snorted.

"No I wouldn't," said Phantom. "Storm knew Justin better than I ever did, but even he didn't know that it wasn't Justin."

"I just feel so stupid," said Zelda, wiping tears away with her shirt sleeve. "He tricked me, he didn't have to but he did. I bet he enjoyed it too, the ass."

"Don't worry, he's in druid custody now where he can't hurt anyone else," said Phantom.

"Hope so," said Zelda. "He's lucky I can't get at him. I'd kick him into a volcano or- or something. I should've left him in the water."

"You thought that he was Justin," said Phantom.

"Yeah, I was blinded by love," said Zelda. "Y'know, thinking about it now, Justin was acting weird. But I just thought that he was traumatised. Do you think that maybe he was looking at the ponies on South Hoof so he could find one to create another Dark Horse? I bet he was. And he was probably talking to Garnok when he was looking out at the sea."

"I don't know," said Phantom. "Are you going to drink that wine?"

"God no," said Zelda, wrinkling her nose as she pushed the glass away. "Don't tell the Baroness, but it's disgusting."

Phantom snorted in amusement and swished his tail, 'accidentally' knocking over the glass and spilling wine onto the grass.

"Thanks," said Zelda with a laugh. But then she sobered. "But Justin's still in danger. Maybe they need a human sacrifice or something, or General blood. I can't just sit here and let him be in danger."

"You don't have to do anything," said Phantom. "The druids will try to find the real Justin."

"But he could be in grave danger right now," said Zelda. "And the druids and Soul Riders will be no help, they're all too distracted trying to rescue Anne now. And yes, it is important to rescue her, but I'm always going to care about Justin first because I love him. Even though I've been kissing and sleeping with Darko lately, but I didn't know it was him and it makes me feel gross just thinking about it."

"I know," said Phantom.

"But you're right, all I can do is wait," said Zelda. "I'm going to keep doing jobs around here to distract myself in the meantime, but as soon as the real Justin is found, I'm going with them on the mission and I'm going to be extra critical this time."

Over in the deep, dark druid prison, Darko had a visitor.

"I understand that you're upset," said Darko.

"Upset?" Shadow shouted at him. "You slept with another girl, Darko!" Darko cringed away from her anger.

"I tried to resist her," said Darko.

"Oh, I'm sure you tried really hard," Shadow snapped back at him.

"I did!" said Darko. "But she was very persistent."

"You just loved the attention, didn't you?" said Shadow.

"No," said Darko. "Trust me, I didn't want to, but I figured that it would be better for my plans if I went along with it."

"Just a perk of the job, huh?" said Shadow, tears still gleaming on her cheeks by the light of the glowing mushrooms.

"I didn't know that he had a girlfriend," said Darko. "If I had, I would have asked someone else to do it."

"And what is your plan, anyway?" asked Shadow. "Or can't I know about that?"

"I'm not so stupid that I'd discuss my secret plans in the heart of the enemy's camp," said Darko. "But if you could just get me out of here..."

"No," said Shadow, turning away from him. She stalked away and mounted her horse. 

"Where are you going?" asked Darko.

"Away from you!" Shadow snapped back at him. Guilt gnawed at Darko as he watched her ride away. He had felt guilty after spending time with Zelda. Especially after sleeping with her. After she'd fallen asleep that night, he'd crept out of the room and travelled to where Shadow was staying. He'd felt guilty ever since. But now it was over, and he didn't have to feel guilty anymore.

Two riders, both angry and upset, met on the cliffs between Fort Pinta and Moorland.

"Oh my god," said Zelda, seeing her friend.

"I can't believe he cheated on me with you," said Shadow. 

"Hey, I feel bad too," said Zelda. Shadow growled, her hands clenching into fists around her horse's reins.

"You made him do it!" said Shadow. "If you hadn't been so in love with him, the trick wouldn't have even worked! You seduced him into sleeping with you, and then, and then-"

"You think you feel bad?" said Zelda, raising her voice too, "he used me! I didn't force him to have sex with me! And I'm pretty sure that what he did counts as at least sexual assault."

"Why did you even have to love that stupid Moorland boy?" said Shadow. "This is all your fault, you know. He could've just pretended to be Justin, and Loretta would've fawned over him but he could've resisted her advances. I don't know how he couldn't resist yours."

"I don't know either," said Zelda. "And now I wish he hadn't, to save us this whole mess."

"Well, he did," said Shadow. "And he hurt us both."

"I hope he's hurt too, for what it's worth," said Zelda.

"Oh, I'm sure you do," said Shadow.

"No, really," said Zelda. "I hate him. I don't know how you can love him. Maybe you're into the whole emo prince thing he's got going on."

"That's rich, coming from the girl in love with Justin Moorland," said Shadow. "He was pretty damn emo last time I saw him."

"That was Darko disguised as him," said Zelda. "Remember? He even tricked you. His own girlfriend. He tricked us all." Shadow inhaled sharply, the words stinging with truth. He had tricked her. And yet, he was supposed to love her. Maybe this whole thing was a mistake. Maybe he was as bad as everyone said. But... no, she still loved him.

"I can't talk about this right now," said Shadow, and rode off.

"Great, now I lost a friend," said Zelda. "He's done so much damage."

"It'd probably please him, if he knew," said Phantom. "So don't let him know."

"But I hope, for Shadow's sake, that he does feel guilty," said Zelda. "He didn't have to sleep with me, though!"

"Maybe it was easier for him that way," said Phantom. "So he wouldn't have to keep pushing you away."

"He could've broken up with me," said Zelda.

"Do you really think that Justin would hurt you like that?" asked Phantom.

"Yeah, you're right," said Zelda. "Justin would never do something like that. So maybe it was easier for him to just keep pretending to be my boyfriend."

"You're not the one he cheated on," said Phantom.

"No, I'm just the one he cheated with," said Zelda.

"Not knowingly," said Phantom.

"He knew," said Zelda.

"But you didn't," said Phantom. "You're innocent. A victim, just as much as she is."

"Shadow doesn't see it that way," said Zelda. "I might not have known, but I still didn't make it easy for him to say no."

"Hey," said Phantom. "It's going to be okay. He's locked up now, so he can't cause any more damage. And Shadow will understand once she calms down."

"But when you love someone, you can excuse them for anything," said Zelda. "That's what got us into this mess in the first place. All of his memory problems, all of his weirdness, the way he was acting when he was rescued, that wasn't a reaction to trauma, that was Darko struggling because he doesn't know Justin as well as he thought he would."

"As well as he should, too," said Phantom. "Maybe Shadow distracted him."

"Why is love so difficult?" asked Zelda. "Shadow is probably jealous of every girl, including me now, because she loves Darko so much. I excused Justin's forgetfulness and general weirdness because I love him. And Darko messed up because he was too busy with his girlfriend."

"Love makes fools of us all," said Phantom.

"That really doesn't make me feel better, but thanks for trying," said Zelda. "C'mon, boy. Let's go ride until I've forgotten all about this whole mess."

There was something strangely therapeutic about riding across the fields of Jorvik on the back of Zelda's true soul horse.


	2. Darko's Deception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zelda continues to struggle with the recent revelation, and a new shock threatens to undo her completely.

Zelda barely slept that night. Nor did Shadow, or Darko, or even the two Soul Steeds involved. She tossed and turned in her bed, her stomach feeling like it was a vat of acid eating away at her insides.

At last, when the sun rose, Zelda finally decided to get out of bed. Her stomach hurt now, from the acid, she guessed. She rubbed it anyway as she walked over to the bathroom, wondering if maybe some pain killers could ease this stomach ache. She felt kind of bloated, suspiciously bloated, but it was probably just the stress.

And then, with a start, she saw the blood. Could stress bring on periods? It certainly wasn’t the right time. No…

Shaking, Zelda tried to think back. She was late. But they’d used protection! Unless that had been his plan all along…

Whatever the cause, accident or on purpose, it was solved now. Zelda felt a jolt of despair, but it quickly changed to relief mixed with fear when she remembered who the real father had been. Not Justin at all.

Zelda had composed herself somewhat by the time she stepped out into the courtyard. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she still felt sick, but she felt considerably better once she swung herself up into Phantom’s saddle. The fire in her belly wasn’t just the acid, now, either (though Zelda hadn’t been able to convince herself to eat), it was rage. Even though a lot of her was also terrified about what she was going through.

Darko had lain in his cell all night, also feeling a mix of regret and sadness. What had he been thinking? Shadow loved him, and he’d thrown that away just for the sake of keeping up a deception for the druids. Being imprisoned hadn’t been part of the plan, his intention had been to mislead the druids by providing misinformation to them. But Fripp had thrown a wrench into that plan, just as surely as he’d thrown a wrench into his relationship by… by…

Darko sat up now, rubbing his hands over his face. He’d actually cried last night, silently, which had surprised him. He never cried. Maybe he had a heart after all, a heart that belonged to Shadow. And he’d broken it, just as surely as he’d broken hers. What he’d done to Zelda had been… wrong. Very wrong, but he’d truly believed, at the time, that it was part of the job. That he’d had to do it. And now…

Booted footsteps suddenly marched down the corridor between the cells, and Darko could tell that it wasn’t Shadow. He recognised the sound of her boots, and these weren’t hers. When he saw the face glaring at him, he really should have expected it.

“Your plan didn’t work,” Zelda snapped at him, her red eyes blazing.

“What plan?” asked Darko. “I know that my deception didn’t work, just look at my surroundings.” He gestured to the cell around him, but Zelda didn’t seem pleased by this. If anything, she just got angrier.

“Not that plan,” said Zelda. “This one.” She put a hand on her stomach, and Darko saw how pale she looked, even in the darkness.

“That was never the plan,” said Darko, surprise making his voice soft as his eyes widened. “Not for you, at least.”

“Well, we used protection, and it still happened,” said Zelda. She looked quite ill at the thought. “But that doesn’t matter, because it didn’t work anyway.”

“What didn’t work?” While they’d been talking, and Darko’s head had been spinning from the revelation and Zelda had been so angry that her heart had been in her ears, neither of them had heard the footsteps at the far end of the corridor. At the sight of her, the beautiful Esmeralda, Darko’s mouth dried up and his heart felt like it had stopped. Zelda saw the look, and didn’t say what she’d been going to say.

“The deception,” said Darko, hating that he had to lie to his girlfriend but not wanting to make things worse. One small lie wouldn’t matter, not when it wouldn’t mean anything in the bigger picture.

“Where is Justin, really?” asked Zelda, glaring at Darko again.

“His execution was scheduled much earlier than when you showed up,” said Darko. “He is swimming with the fishes, as they say.”

Zelda felt a searing pain in her heart, so bad that she doubled over, gasping. No, it couldn’t be true, it couldn’t!

“You’re lying!” Zelda snapped at him.

“No, I’m not,” said Darko. “He’s swimming with the fishes, Zelda. That plan, at least, succeeded.”

“No,” Zelda whispered, crumpling in on herself, her shoulders shaking. Darko looked at her steadily.

“His binds prevent him from lying,” said Shadow. “Sorry, Z.”

“Don’t try to comfort me now!” Zelda spat at her, and fled the druid prison, tears streaming down her face.

“Shadow, I’m-“ Darko began, but Shadow held up a hand to stop him.

“I know,” said Shadow. “You were only doing your job, and you love your job. But it still hurts that you went and did that.” Darko looked down sadly, clenching his fists and wanting to apologise further, to throw himself at her feet and kiss her boots. But Shadow wasn’t done speaking. “But,” she said, “maybe I should’ve told you that Justin had a girlfriend.”

“You didn’t know what I was planning,” said Darko. “And you never talk about your friends’ love lives.”

“I hate Justin now,” said Shadow. “Because of what he made you do. But he’s dead now, so it doesn’t matter.” Darko looked pained. “What?”

“I didn’t say that he was dead,” said Darko. “Just that he’s swimming with the fishes.”

“That means ‘dead’,” said Shadow. Darko smirked.

“You humans and your words,” said Darko. “They make it all too easy to twist phrases and get around honesty spells. Justin is, quite literally, swimming with the fishes.”

“How?” asked Shadow, frowning in confusion.

“We pushed Justin off the plank, as we’d planned, but it didn’t entirely go to plan,” said Darko. “As soon as Justin hit the water, he transformed. He resurfaced, but then, so did a black fish tail. We were all stunned, of course, and went after him, but we couldn’t manage to keep up. We lost him, and my belief is that he is currently swimming towards Jorvik’s coastline.”

“I should go tell Z,” said Shadow. “That’ll smooth things over between us.”

“So you don’t blame her?” asked Darko. “You humans are strange.”

“You’re the one who loves one,” said Shadow. “And no, I can’t blame the victim.” Darko winced at her statement that he was the villain in this piece.

“I know that I’m evil,” said Darko. “And I’ve accepted that. But believe me when I say, Shadow, that I would never, ever rape someone.”

“Too late for that,” said Shadow.

“What do you mean?” asked Darko.

“Sleeping with someone by pretending to be someone else counts as rape,” said Shadow. “She wanted to sleep with Justin, not you.”

“Well, I didn’t want to sleep with her, either,” said Darko.

“But you did,” said Shadow. “And now, that’s going to stick to you forever. Stick to both of you.”

“I really am sorry,” said Darko. “Please, Shadow, I can’t stand you being mad at me.” Shadow bit her lip, pleased that Darko appeared genuinely hurt. He must love her, then.

“I need time,” said Shadow, and turned and walked back out of the prison.

Zelda sat on the fishing dock outside Moorland stables all day, feeling numb now. At least the pain in her heart blotted out the pain everywhere else. She squeezed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth and trembling under the onslaught of powerful emotions that threatened to tear her apart. Pain and guilt and sadness and disgust warred within her, threatening to overwhelm her. Her head spun, but she couldn’t bring herself to get up and move. She’d turned her phone off, not accepting any calls or texts from friends. None of her friends had come to visit her, either, which she was glad for. They knew that she needed time, and probably all thought that she was still in her room.

Night fell, and Zelda still didn’t move. She felt numb from the hips down, so she couldn’t have moved even if she’d wanted to. She just stared at the water, blinking away tears, as it turned black as night fell. So fixated was she on the dark water lapping at the rocks on the far shore that she missed the sight of something silently breaking the surface of the water.

But she definitely heard someone heave himself up on the sandy beach and gasp in air. Zelda glanced at the beach, wondering who had just washed ashore, and her abused heart ached. She must be hallucinating in her grief. But that hair, that face, that body, those eyes, that voice that spoke her name…

“Zelda?” said Justin, pulling himself further up onto the beach. Something dark trailed out behind him where his legs should be.

“Great, now I’m hallucinating,” Zelda muttered, rubbing her eyes. But when she looked again, the figure was still there. Justin was still there. Her heart gave a jolt, and, when Zelda stood, her numb legs collapsed beneath her, sending her toppling into the water.

Zelda struggled frantically, unable to swim with her legs so numb, but she was sinking. Zelda’s struggles grew feebler, and the blood, she knew, must be drawing sharks. And when something grabbed her, Zelda screamed, her oxygen escaping her in the form of bubbles.

To her great surprise, though, Zelda wasn’t dragged away by a shark. Instead, she gasped for air on the sandy beach, something still wrapped around her. She looked up, saw Justin, and began to struggle.

“No! You’re supposed to be in jail, get away, get off me!” Zelda screamed, struggling even as the pins and needles cramped her legs terribly.

“What? You mean Dark Core? I’m free of them now, I swam away,” said Justin.

“No, you’re dead, he told me!” said Zelda, finally managing to get free as Justin let go of her. She tried to run up the beach, but her legs still wouldn’t hold her up, so she scrabbled away, crying.

“What? No I’m not,” said Justin. “I’m right here, Zelda.” Z sniffled, trembling.

“Alright,” said Z. “If you’re the real Justin, tell me something only he would know.”

“When you first came to Moorland, you were so twitterpated around me that Storm kept having to pull you over to me. The first time we had a face-to-face conversation was when Storm pushed you towards me with his nose.” Z trembled, but not just from the cold now.

“It is you,” Zelda whispered, and flung herself at Justin, wrapping her arms around him and burying her snotty, tear-stained face into his seawater-soaked shirt. “It’s you, it’s you, it’s really you, I thought you were dead.”

In Justin’s arms, Zelda finally fell apart, sobbing like her heart was breaking even though it was healing.

“It’s okay, I’m here,” said Justin, rubbing her back. Z sobbed, every part of her shaking, not caring how she looked to Justin. Because he really wouldn’t care. He was here. And, though Zelda was still falling apart after everything that happened, at least she had Justin to cling to. Or they could fall apart together.


End file.
